Prof Shantha Rajaratnam

Occupational Health & Safety Program, SHF Chair

Monash University

Professor and Deputy Head of the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and Deputy Director of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. Shantha Rajaratnam was awarded his PhD degree from Monash University in 1998, and completed a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2000. He undertook postdoctoral training at the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Surrey, UK from 2000-2002, where he investigated human sleep-wake regulation, in particular the role of melatonin. In 2004 he took up a visiting academic position at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA, investigating the impact of melatonin agonists and light, on sleep and circadian rhythms, and fatigue management programs in occupational settings. Since 2006 he has served as Chair of the Monash Sleep Network. He is a Lecturer in Medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Neuroscientist in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Bingham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is a Chartered Psychologist in the UK and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is past President of the Australasian Sleep Association, Program Leader in the Alertness CRC and is Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation.

His research interests include circadian regulation of sleep, effects of melatonin and melatonin agonists on sleep and circadian rhythms, effects of light on the human circadian system, evaluation of fatigue management programs for shift workers, consequences of sleep loss and sleep disruption, and regulation of working time and legal issues relating to sleep loss and fatigue.